The general and recreational use of insulated containers, such as "water cans" or "ice chests", to hold, especially, beverages and other food items is well known and such containers are effective in holding beverages or other items at or near a desired temperature over an extended period of time. Primarily, such containers are utilized to refrigerate beverages or other items by disposing a supply of ice within the container, but such containers are also utilized to warm rather than refrigerate beverages or other items. Such containers, however, are customarily designed to provide a single interior compartment capable of holding only a single volume of liquid, especially the "water can" type, with some containers further providing a valve for dispensing liquid from the interior. "Ice chest" type containers typically are not provided with a dispensing valve for such a purpose, but must be opened to access the interior, though they do allow the storage of several discrete containers therein. Some "ice chest" type containers, however, do provide a drainage port for draining water from within the interior as the ice within the container melts.
Various approaches to dispensing beverages or other liquids have been attempted and are known in the prior art, but none of the approaches have amply satisfied the adaptability, removability, and interchangeability problems. Beverage or other liquid dispensers are known in the prior art, as illustrated by U.S. Pat. No. 4,162,029 to Gottsegen et al., which discloses a removable vertically positioned uninsulated and tapered container with special lugs disposed on each side thereof, a large top opening with lid closure, and a lower end wall hole capable of accepting a threaded dispenser tap and threaded nut assembly. The Gottsegen patent further discloses that the tapered container is disposed adjacent to one end wall of a cooler, similar to an "ice chest" type container, with the special lugs thereon to cooperatively engage wedge-shaped retaining shoulders in the interior side walls of the cooler, and upon proper positioning of the tapered container within the cooler, the lower end wall hole and the corresponding hole in the cooler end wall will properly align so as to allow the securing of the dispenser tap assembly. This approach, however, does not address the interchangeability between various conventional insulated containers since the special molded lugs disposed on each side of the interior container and the special wedge-shaped retaining shoulders on the side walls of the insulated container requires a specially formed and non-conventional insulated container. This approach also fails to address the adaptability between various conventional insulated containers since the interconnection between the interior container and the insulated container only employs the aforementioned special molded lugs and mating retainer shoulders, besides the dispenser tap assembly, without providing an approach for interconnecting the interior container to another conventional insulated container without the mating retainer shoulders. Furthermore, the inner container must be installed prior to filling the inner container or emptied prior to removal since the threaded nut must be positioned onto or removed from the dispensing tap from inside the inner container through the large top opening.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,249,392 to Hotta discloses a horizontally positioned heat transferable interior container with a hole at one end. The interior container is incorporated within the outer insulated container with lid, similar to an "ice chest" type container, and suspended upwardly from the space therein by being attached to the upper portion of the outer container or the inner surface of the lid. The Hotta patent discloses a detachable supporting means for the interior container to the upper portion of the outer container by providing specially formed holders to specifically accommodate the interior container; additionally, the Hotta patent discloses a detachable supporting means for the interior container to the lid by using elongated bands. The Hotta patent further discloses liquid removal from the interior container being accomplished by means of a valve or air pump. The Hotta patent primarily discloses the use of this inner container as a heating or cooling source for the insulated container by respectively pouring preheated water into the inner container or pouring water into the inner container and then freezing the water. The Hotta patent secondarily discloses the use of the liquid of the inner container as a drinking source. The Hotta patent apparently anticipates the interior container to be directly related to, and an interfacing part of, a particular outer insulated container. Therefore, this approach, although addressing the adaptability problem by providing a detachable attachment means, does not address the interchangeability problem.
Of lesser pertinence, U.S. Pat. No. 1,776,307 to Bosque, U.S. Pat. No. 2,872,078 to Kennedy, and U.S. Pat. No. 2,718,985 to Tamminga each disclose an interior uninsulated liquid container, an exterior insulated container, and a dispensing system wherein each interior container occupies for the most part the entire insulated compartment rather than a portion thereof. Also the Bosque and Kennedy patents further disclose complex mechanical dispensing systems. Again, these approaches do not address the interchangeability and adaptability problems by requiring particularly designed exterior containers and dispensing mechanisms.
Insulated containers with multiple internal compartments and multiple dispensing valves are also known, as illustrated by U.S. Pat. No. 85,125 to Pietsch, U.S. Pat. No. 65,366 to Finch, U.S. Pat. No. 71,899 to Murden et al., U.S. Pat. No. 57,281 to Blocher, U.S. Pat. No. 43,498 to Haustetter, and U.S. Pat. No. 127,556 to Brady, but the approach taken by each of these patents uses internal compartments that are permanently interconnected within the insulated container, and thus does not address removability or interchangeability.
Therefore, there remains a need for a simple, internally disposed, uninsulated, and removable liquid container for insulated coolers which provides a means of externally withdrawing or dispensing liquids while remaining adaptable to and interchangeable between various conventional insulated containers.